


You'll be fine.

by Floofy



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Blood and Gore, Child Abuse, Child Death, Graphic Description of Corpses, Hallucinations, Hyperventilation, POV Alternating, POV First Person, POV Third Person, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Threats of Violence, but not too much alternation, its mainly from gavins point of view and it follows him around mainly, just incasee this might upset anyone...gotta be careful yknow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 16:18:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15416811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floofy/pseuds/Floofy
Summary: Gavin Reed and Hank Anderson don't have much in comman, really. Ones young; the others old. One of them hates androids with a burning passion; the others practically adopted one as his own son.One thing they do have in common though is their crippling anxiety dissorder thats tied to past traumatic events which can rear up its ugly head at any time. It doesn't help that when working in the police force; you see some really gruesome shit.--(A short fic exploring panic attacks and PTSD and how both of them are able to calm down the other in two drastically different ways. Mainly from Gavins point of view.)





	You'll be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> One small idea spawned this and it just got away from me...it was supposed to be real short but my brain demanded i write more so i fleshed it out a bit more and came up with a random backstory for how Gavin got his scar in the process. I just seem to keep thinking of angst when it comes to DBH and i dont know why....seems its the only thing i can write lmao :')  
> Anyway, enjoy their suffering. I sure as hell know from first hand experience that panic attacks and anxiety and all that shit is a real bitch.

When it first happens they’re at a crime scene.

 

Rain is pelting the front of the building and trickling down the front of Gavins shoes as he stands near the entrance waiting for his turn to go upstairs when the room is “less-crowded”. Hank and him had been called out on behalf of the DPD to collect information and evidence to start an investigation on to who the victim was and who the murderer could be. The room the victim had been found in was tiny and only big enough for two or three detectives at a time. Lieutenant Anderson was currently making his way up to join two other cops to scope out the scene, the sound of his heavy footsteps echoing through the bottom floor living room as he passed over the boards above the door frame where Gavin fidgeted. He didn’t want to move any further into the house than he had too; the smell of bloody iron tacky at the back of his throat even before he’d even seen the corpse, it was abhorrent. That being said, he wasn’t too fond of standing outside in the rain either, so he’d just settled on hovering in the door frame

 

Or...well...Hank  _ had  _ been going upstairs.

 

Just as soon as the footsteps had stopped at the top of the staircase they were thundering back down again, making the boards squeak angrily in protest as the Lieutenant flung himself down in a hurry and almost knocked Reed over in his rush to leave the building. The detective lets out a shout at the push and swears in confusion, gripping at the door frame to stop himself from falling over. He only gets a glimpse of Hank running around the corner of the house from the corner of his eye before he’s completely gone from eyesight and it makes him scoff.

 

With a grunt Gavin turns around and forces himself up the staircase, nose wrinkling at the terrible smell but putting up with it to find out why the Lieutenant had _run for the hills._ It really doesn’t take him long to find out why. At the top of the stairs starts a long streak of blood across the wood and carpet that is free flowing from the room where the corpse is laid. He doesn’t really think it can be called a corpse at this point, more like a flayed mangle of a mess of bones and tissue, it looks as if it’d been thrown in a wood chipper. The first thought that comes to mind is _‘what the fuck could of done this’_ before he notices that the head had been removed and is perfectly intact, propped up on the bed and staring dead, wide eyed out of the doorway and straight into the line of sight of whoever chose to make the trip up the staircase and look to their immediate left.

 

It’s a child’s head...   
A young boy…

Oh.

 

Letting the other two officers do their gruesome job Gavin makes his way back down the stairs; not as quickly as Hank had but quick nonetheless. He may hate the old man’s guts but even  _ he  _ knows of the man’s past trauma. And from the breith flash of the Hank he’d seen before he’d disappeared around the corner he did  _ not _ look good.

 

Gavin finds him only a few seconds later leaning against the brick wall with his back bent and head in his hands. He’s hyperventilating and muttering incoherently to himself.  _ Fuck.  _ Gavin is calm though, calm _enough_ ; knows how to deal with this; has personally brought himself out of it in the past. He plans to help him calmly and quickly because if Connor ever found out Hank had been left to suffer after a traumatic bout of PTSD he’s sure nobody in the office would hear the end of it.

 

Slowly, Reed makes his way into Hank’s line of sight; making sure not to spook the man any further. Now that he’s closer he can hear the ragged breaths he’s struggling to pull in and out of his mouth and see that his hands are trembling in his hair; pulling tightly at the gray strands to try and ground himself but it’s obviously not working. Gently he reaches for those hands, untangling them from the Lieutenants hair so he doesn’t end up hurting himself and holds onto his wrists, bending down to catch his gaze and Hank gasps for a second; confused, before going straight back to his short, panting breaths once he sees it’s Gavin infront of him. Hank pants out just a few more breaths that leave him light headed and confused before he looks down again and starts muttering.

 

“He looks so...looked so similar to- to my-”

 

“Lieutenant, I’m going to need you to keep your gaze on me, okay? Look up,” Gavin starts loud and clearly with a gentle shake to Hanks arms; attempting to shake him from the haze.

 

“-my Cole-”

 

“Look at me, Lieutenant.”

 

Hank does as he’s told, body shaky but cooperating as he lifts his gaze to the younger man infront of him; peering up at him through the loose wisps of his bangs. Gavin holds eye contact and nods.

 

“Alright, now, we’re going to take some deep breaths. In and out for a few seconds, do you understand?”

 

Hanks still gasping but he manages a couple of nods with his head.

 

“Ok, good. Keep your eyes on me and copy what I do. Try to breath in time with me, alright? Take a deep breath.” 

 

Gavin breathes in deeply, tightening his grip on Hank’s wrists as he does so and watches as Hank does the same, albeit shaky and short but there’s a breath in. Gavin waits a few seconds and then lefts out the breath, letting the air rush out of his mouth slowly. Once again Hank copies him, still shaky; but he does it.

 

“Once more; copy me. In…” Another breath in.

 

“And out…” Another breath out.

 

Gavin does this a few more times until Hank gets the hang of it and is breathing in time with him without words. It takes a few minutes until his breathing calms but it works. With a few more deep breaths Hank closes his eyes; continuing the breathing exercise without needing to stare at Reed like a hawk and soon after his breathing is back to normal. He’s still shaking slightly and looks like he’s about to fall over but Gavin’s still holding onto him, waiting a few more moments for the shakes to subside and letting the Lieutenant sort himself out into a better mindset. 

 

It takes....quite some time before Hanks finally stable again, having opted to grab for Gavins hands around his wrists to ground himself but as soon as he looks stable enough Gavin pulls away, not wanting to deal with the weird looks someone would give him if they found him practically holding hands with the superior officer off in a side alley. He backs up and crosses his arms over his chest, watching as Hank finally stands up straight; taking the time to fix the wet hair stuck to his cheeks and giving gavin a very week smile.

 

Relieved, but not wanting to show it, Gavin just scoffs.

 

“You alright now you old fuck?” 

 

He gets a huff of a laugh in return and considers that a yes.

 

He’ll be fine.

 

\--------------------------------

 

The second time it happens they’re at the station.

 

It’s no longer raining but they’re inside the building this time so it doesn’t matter. It’s a few weeks into the investigation of the disembodied and mutilated child case and they haven’t gotten anywhere. With Hank unable to work on the case due to personal issues and Connor busy with other cases, nobodies been able to make any leeway on it and it’s been upsetting. They’d discovered that the child had been dead for at least 26 hours before a neighbour had noticed a lack of any noise from the victims house and a “strange smell” emanating from one of the windows, but hadn’t seen anyone come or go in the time between when the murder had happened and when the murderer had left, nor anybody entering or leaving the house before hand.. 

The mother and father of the boy were nowhere to be found and were the prime subjects thus far but even Connor hadn’t been able to find any evidence into where they could have gone. He’d gone to the scene with Gavin to sample and analyse both the room and the rest of the house and they’d left Hank back at the station; not wanting to cause another panic attack in the old man at having to look at the barbaric state the child had been left in, but even together they still hadn’t been able to find anything substantial; so the case had been put on hold for now. 

 

If everyone was being honest, nobody really wanted to touch even a finger to the case files just because of the horrific images they’d find inside of the child, but surprisingly; Gavin had been adamant to at least keep the case on mind.  _ Someone _ would have to solve the case at some point and being one of the first few cops on the scene to see the body had left a definite impression on him. Whatever impression it was however he wasn’t sure...but it clicked with something inside him and it made him nervous.

 

He wouldn’t admit that of course but, yes; he was nervous nonetheless.

 

Gavins just leaving a toilet stall and washing his hands when he looks up at himself in the mirror and goes over the case in his head once more, trying to find what the  _ click _ was. There had been  _ so much blood, _ it was all over the bed and floor, the trail having started at the stairs and then lead into the bedroom as if the boy and been dragged  _ beaten and bloody,  _ into the room by whoever the sick fuck was to finish him off. He can imagine how scared the poor kid must of been, imagines how he must have been hit with something hard enough to  _ knock him dizzy and unfocussed as his father pulled _ out  _ a knife- the smell of alcohol thick in the air around him- choking him as he stumbles to the floor- Please father no! He’d cried- but his father didn’t listen- brought down the knife and little Gavin brought up his hands- the knife slashing into his arms and then his chest and over his nose- _

 

He blinks back into the present and blinks at the sudden intrusion- realises he isn’t breathing.

 

_ He can’t breathe. _

 

With a jolt he doubles over the counter; gasping for air and being unable to find any, mind flashing back to  _ his father standing over him, knife in hand dripping with fresh blood, watches as it falls to the carpet- _ No! Stop thinking about it! Pull yourself together Reed!

 

But he can’t. He’s far too gone now. Far too deep into his repressed memories to think straight. He’s gonna faint in the bathroom of the fucking DPD and nobody's gonna know about it and  _ he’s gonna fucking faint god damnit- _

 

There’s a click to his right; the sound of a door opening; but Gavin can’t tear his gaze away from the faucets in front of him as they start to drip crimson. He struggles to breathe once again, his lungs decompressing too fast to let any air in. Everything around him looks blurry, the noise of rushing feet on tiles doesn’t reach his ears because it feels like his ears are full of liquid and  _ he’s somehow gonna drown from having no oxygen-  _ “Reed!” - _ how does that make any fucking sense-??? Why can’t he breathe- _

 

“Reed!”

 

Hands grabbing at his own; pulling against knuckles that have turned white against the countertop.

 

“Gavin look at me-!”

 

He feels himself turning but doesn’t actually  _ feel _ it. It’s like he’s floating. Drowning right? He’s drowning?  _ Drowning in his own blood as it drips down his nose and clogs his throat- _

 

“Kid for fucks sake _look_ _at me!”_

 

Gavin feels the smack to his face. Hears it well also. It’s deafening in the quiet of the bathroom surrounding them and it’s loud enough to make him jump. Loud like a gunshot ringing in his ears. With a blink his eyes refocus and he finds himself face to face with Hank. The man looks incredibly distraught and Gavin finds himself chuckling at his expression despite the situation; delusional; the noise breathless and quiet but it’s something at least. He chokes a little on it and shudders; a phantom force at the back of his throat making him want to gag.

 

“Fucking hell, Gavin, you almost gave me a heart attack! Are you alright? You looked deathly pale…”

 

Hank’s voice is quieter now; since he’s finally managed to snap Gavin out of his trance he doesn’t need to shout to try and bring him back to the present. 

 

“Need any help with your breathing?” He asks, even quieter still, voice practically dripping with concern. 

 

Gavin gives a quick shake of the head but stops when he finds himself getting dizzy.

 

“N-no….i’m...i’m good...i think…?” He makes to step out of Hank’s hold only to trip over his own feet.

 

“Alright take it easy now-! C’mon, let’s sit you down…” Hank’s voice is still thick with concern; doing his best to not let Gavin fall and looking him up and down as he wobbles unsteadily on his feet.

 

It takes a moment for Gavin’s feet to catch up with his oxygen starved brain but he gets there and lets Hank settle him down on the tiles. It feels gross to just sit on a bathroom floor but he’d rather sit and calm down in here then outside with all the prying eyes and  _ Connor  _ hovering over his and Hanks shoulder like the goddamned poodle he is-

 

Once comfortably sat on the floor Hank pulls back his hands from where he’d been holding Gavin’s own; knowing that once he's more 'with it' he won't appreciate the contact and lets out a deep sigh; fidgeting awkwardly in his half cross legged seat in front of Reed that was definitely not good for his knees.

 

“You gonna be alright now?” 

 

“Hey- did you call me a fucking ‘ _ kid’ _ ?”

 

Hank raises an eyebrow.

 

“And did you fucking  _ slap me?!” _

 

Hank barks out a laugh and considers that a yes.

 

He’ll be fine.


End file.
